Peel Residents Asked for Feedback on Statutory Holiday Shopping

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Published January 19, 2018 at 4:01 am

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Most people would agree that everyone deserves a day off once in awhile.

But what if not everybody wants one?

An ongoing issue about retail stores staying open during statutory holidays has prompted the Region of Peel to conduct an online survey and announce impending public consultations on whether to allow retail businesses to remain open during statutory holidays. One such example was Yuan Ming Supermarket, who applied for an exemption under the Retail Business Holiday Act to allow them to stay open as a “tourist destination.”

Not every ethnic based supermarket can stay open using the same methods. You could classify T&T’s Mississauga location as a tourist destination, since it was the only major Asian supermarket accessible to southwestern Ontario until the Nations Fresh Food at Winston Churchill opened.

Last year, Pat Supermarket along Dundas Street tried the same thing, but from my personal experience, they were not exactly on par with T&T and thus I didn’t think they deserved they same treatment.

With such discrepancies in the application of the rules, the Region of Peel is asking residents for their opinion regarding shopping during the following statutory holidays:

  • New Year’s Day

  • Family Day

  • Easter Sunday

  • Good Friday

  • Victoria Day

  • Canada Day

  • Labour Day

  • Thanksgiving Day

  • Christmas Day

The survey takes approximately five minutes to complete and is open to retail customers, employees and business owners from Peel Region. The survey is for Peel residents only, otherwise the survey closes.

As for the questions in the survey, here’s a sampling of some of them:

  • What kind of retail purchase did you make in the past year? (groceries, clothes, eating out at restaurants, etc…)

  • What concerns do you have about shopping on statutory holidays? (no reservations, loss of family time, lack of time off for retail workers/respecting their rights, or religious commitments)

  • Should square footage (aka size of brick and mortar) determine whether a retail location should be allowed to remain open on a holiday?

  • Should stores have the flexibility to decide on which day they would like to stay open, or should they be allowed to stay open on all of them? Or should the Region decide?

  • How should shopping on statutory holidays be regulated in Peel Region?

In additional to this survey, Peel Region has hired urbanMetrics, a municipal consulting firm, to host three public meetings that will share the results as well as gather additional insights from the public and stakeholders.  

If you are interested in attending one of these sessions, you can select one of the following times in February. All sessions are free and take place in each of Peel Region’s component municipalities.


Mississauga: Wednesday February 21, 2018

Caledon: Monday February 26, 2018

Brampton: Tuesday February 27, 2018


So if you did the survey and want to find out what the results are, it would be a good idea to sign up.

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